Antipersonnel ordnance device

ABSTRACT

1. A casing for an ordnance device comprising: A WALL HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM THICKNESS; SAID WALL BEING COMPRISED OF GENERALLY LINEAR INTERCONNECTED, ANGULARLY DISPOSED SECTIONS FORMING A CORRUGATION CONFIGURATION; AND SAID CORRUGATIONS BEING DISPOSED TRANSVERSE TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE CASING.

v [22] Filed: June 29, 1964 United States Patent 1 3,635,163 Philipchuk51 Jan. 18,1972

[5 ANTIPERSONNEL ORDNANCE DEVICE Primary Examiner-Vern" PendegrassAttorney-R. S. Sciascia and T. 0. Watson, Jr. [72] Inventor: VasilPhilipchuk, Dahlgren, Va.

[73] Assignee: The United States of America as EXEMPLARY CLAIMrepresented by the Secretary of the Navy l. A casing for an ordnancedevice comprising:

[ 1 pp No 379 055 a wall having a substantially uniform thickness;

said wall being comprised of generally linear interconnected,

us. or .102/64, 102/24 angularly dislmsed fuming a ..F42b 3/08 and 5s 1Field of Search ..l02/64, 65, 67 said corrugations being disposedtransverse to the longitudiml [56 1 References Cited casing UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 3,081,704 3/1963 Boswell102/67 mamas JAM 1912 3635163 FIG. 2 3/ was/L PHIL IOHUK 64M kfiw//wllf/BY waflfl @667 QATTOR/VEY AGENT PATENTED JAN 1 8 m2 SHEET 2 BF 3PATENTED JAN: 81972 F-JfFET 3 OF 3 ANTIPERSONNEL ORDNANCE DEVICE Theinvention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for theGovernment of the United States of America for governmental purposeswithout the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

The present invention relates generally to improvements in thefabrication of warheads used in ordnance devices. More particularly, theinvention relates to a new and improved concept of design for warheadsutilized in antipersonnel ordnance devices. 7

There are numerous antipersonnel ordnance devices which have as apurpose the immobilization of a group of persons. Prior art devicesemploy various designs and concepts for dispersing as many fragments aspossible in as many directions as possible to maximize the probabilityof striking a person who is situated in a particular area about thepoint of detonation. The perfect antipersonnel ordnance device, whenfired against a group of persons, detonates to propel lethal projectiles in all directions to strike every person within a given radius ofthe spot of detonation. To date, no such antipersonnel device has beendeveloped but those skilled in the art are constantly striving toperfect such an antipersonnel weapon.

The instant invention is an improvement over the known antipersonnelordnance devices in that it has greater capabilities because it producesan even distribution of more projectiles at a higher initial velocitythan prior art devices.

It is therefore the general purpose of this invention to provide anantipersonnel ordnance device which embraces all the advantages of thesimilarly employed prior art devices and has capabilities not present inthe prior art devices. To attain this, the present inventioncontemplates a unique concept of con struction of a warhead to providean antipersonnel ordnance device which utilizes a shaped charge andjetting effect upon detonation to propel a maximum number of fragmentsof the warhead at a higher initial velocity.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide anantipersonnel ordnance device which upon detonation fires lethalprojectiles into a maximum of particular areas surrounding the point ofdetonation.

Another object is to provide an antipersonnel ordnance device which issimple, effective and economical to manufacture.

Still another object is to provide an antipersonnel ordnance devicewhich utilizes a warhead of one-piece construction but which hasfragmentation capabilities greater than warheads made of individualsegments, which segments become projectiles upon detonation.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this inventionwill be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood byreference to the following detailed description when considered inconnection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an illustrative embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the presentinvention; I

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 33 of the deviceillustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view taken along line 4-4 of the alternative embodimentillustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an illustrative prior artantipersonnel ordnance weapon; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the same device as illus trated inFIG. I but indicating polar angles.

Referring now to FIG. 1, wherein an illustrative embodiment of thepresent invention is disclosed, an antipersonnel ordnance device isshown. The ordnance device comprises a casing or housing 11 which isclosed off at the ends by plates or bulkheads l2 and I3. Threadedlysecured into the plate 13, is a fuse housing 14. A blasting cap 15 ismounted within the fuse housing 14 by a plug 16. The plug 16 may be madeof wood, rubber, plastic or any other suitable material. Secured in thelower end of the fuse housing 14 is an initiator pellet 17 whichdetonates the explosive charge 18. The wall of the casing 11 iscorrugated or in a zigzag configuration as shown in the cross-sectionalview of FIG. I. Also, the wall 11 is of uniform thickness. Angle 0represents the angle between the successive segments of the wall 11 andquantitatively may be of any number of degrees found suitable forparticular situations. It has been determined, however, that a mosteffective fragmentation pattern is accomplished when the angle 0 is 90.

The device as shown in FIG. 5 is a typical prior art device used as anantipersonnel ordnance weapon. The walls of the device in FIG. 5 are ofunifonn thickness, however, they are linear and of one unitary piece.The device in FIG. 5 also has a cylindrical body 21, an end plate 22,and the same detonator, generally shown at 23, as that illustrated inFIG. 1. Upon detonation of the device in FIG. 5, the explosive chargebreaks or fragmentizes the casing 21; the casing breaks into pieces in ahaphazard manner according to the internal stresses within the casingwall. Consequently, the projectiles may be large or small and adifferent number of projectiles will be produced by each individualdevice. Therefore, the number of projectiles in a particular areasituated about the point of detonation of the prior art deviceillustrated in FIG. 5 is haphazard and erratic.

In contradistinction to the prior art device illustrated in FIG. 5, theinstant invention, as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, provides aconsistently numerous amount of fragments upon detonation to effectivelycover the entire area about the point of detonation. The corrugations orzigzag construction of the invention provides a jetting elTect of theexplosive charge to cause the effective fragmentation of the casing inaddition to a higher initial velocity of the fragments. Immediatelysubsequent to detonation, in any particular area at a distance ofapproximately 5 feet from the point of detonation of the device of theinstant invention, approximately eight to 10 times more fragments arepresent than in a corresponding area at the same distance from the pointof detonation of the prior art device illustrated in FIG. 5. Also, at aradial distance of approximately 15 feet from the point of detonation ofthe instant device, there are two to four more times as many fragmentsas there are at a corresponding distance from the point of detonation ofa prior art device such as that illustrated in FIG. 5. It is, therefore,empirically clear that the instant invention provides a distinct advancein the art.

In FIG. 2 there is shown an alternative embodiment of the presentinvention wherein the warhead casing 31 is generally spherical inconfiguration but changes direction at predetermined points along itssurface. The detonator 32 is the same type as illustrated in connectionwith the device illustrated in FIG. I. The device shown in FIG. 2provides fragmentation of the casing 31 in a greater number of degreesabout the point of detonation than the device illustrated in FIG. I,i.e., to a polar angle of l. The direction in which the fragments of thedevice illustrated in FIG. 1 are propelled, which is more clearly shownin FIG. 6, is generally between the polar angle of 45 and the polarangle of 135 with a relatively even distribution between the polarangles of 75 and As is apparent in the foregoing description the presentinvention provides a unique antipersonnel ordnance device which has thecapabilities of providing more effective dispersion of fragments of thecasing about the point of detonation at a higher initial velocity,culminating in the most useful, advantageous and effective result ofproviding a more lethal weapon.

While the invention has been described in its preferred embodiment, itis to be understood that the terminology which has been used herein isintended to be in the nature of words of description rather than oflimitation.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in light of the above teachings. For example, the casing couldhave the overall general configuration of any of the well-knowngeometrical shapes, i.e., cube, octagon or the like. Also, thecorrugations may be disposed in a variety of relations to the casing,i.e., corrugations formed by a helix around a cylinder, or corrugationsdisposed longitudinally about a cylindrical surface. It is therefore tobe understood that within the scope of the appended claims the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed: 1. A casing for an ordnance device comprising: a wallhaving a substantially uniform,thickness; said wall being comprised ofgenerally linear interconnected, angularly disposed sections forming acorrugation configuration; and said corrugations being disposedtransverse to the longitudinal axis of the casing. 2. A casing as setforth in claim 1 wherein; the general overall configuration of thecasing is a cylinder. 3. A casing as set forth in claim 2 wherein; thecorrugations are disposed with highs and lows disposed longitudinallyalong the cylinder. 4. A casing as set forth in claim 1 wherein; thegeneral overall configuration of the casing is a closed sphere. 5. Anordnance device comprising; a casing means for containing an explosiveand a detonator,

said casing means having a wall of uniform thickness,

said wall comprised of a plurality of segments of equal length andwidth,

successive segments being attached in end-to-end fashion,

said successive segments being disposed in a zigzag relationship asviewed in longitudinal cross section, and

said successive segments being disposed with an angle therebetween offrom 45 to W0.

6. A warhead means for an ordnance device comprising;

a generally cylindrical casing,

a first means at the first end of said casing to close said casa secondmeans at the second end of said casing to close said casing,

said casing having a bellows shape,

the wall of said casing being of uniform thickness,

successive elements of the bellows configured casing wall being disposedrelative to each other at an angle of and the folds of said bellowsbeing disposed transverse to the longitudinal axis of said casing.

1. A casing for an ordnance device comprising: a wall having asubstantially uniform thickness; said wall being comprised of generallylinear interconnected, angularly disposed sections forming a corrugationconfiguration; and said corrugations being disposed transverse to thelongitudinal axis of the casing.
 2. A casing as set forth in claim 1wherein; the general overall configuration of the casing is a cylinder.3. A casing as set forth in claim 2 wherein; the corrugations aredisposed with highs and lows disposed longitudinally along the cylinder.4. A casing as set forth in claim 1 wherein; the general overallconfiguration of the casing is a closed sphere.
 5. An ordnance devicecomprising; a casing means for containing an explosive and a detonator,said casing means having a wall of uniform thickness, said wallcomprised of a plurality of segments of equal length and width,successive segments being attached in end-to-end fashion, saidsuccessive segments being disposed in a zigzag relationship as viewed inlongitudinal cross section, and said successive segments being disposedwith an angle therebetween of from 45* to 100* .
 6. A warhead means foran ordnance device comprising; a generally cylindrical casing, a firstmeans at the first end of said casing to close said casing, a secondmeans at the second end of said casing to close said casing, said casinghaving a bellows shape, the wall of said casing being of uniformthickness, successive elements of the bellows configured casing wallbeing disposed relative to each other at an angle of 90*, and the foldsof said bellows being disposed transverse to the longitudinal axis ofsaid casing.